1. SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN
THE DESIGN SCHOOL
FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT
NAME: JANICE LEE JUEN YUNG
STUDENT ID NO: 0318695
FILMS SELECTED: SOUND OF MUSIC ; PITCH PERFECT
WORD COUNT: 996
ENGLISH 2 (ELG 30605)
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: COMPARE – CONTRAST ESSAY
LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA
SUBMISSION DATE: 19TH SEPTEMBER 2014

2. Contrast essay between Sound of Music and Pitch Perfect
Story Line
Main Actress Characteristics
Sound of Music
Pitch Perfect
Maria wants to be a nun
Became governess of 7 children
Freedom in Switzerland
Marries Captain
Beca wants to be a DJ
Fell in love with Jesse
Member of Barden Bella
Wins National competition
Cheerful
Kind
Hot Tempered
Creative
Beca Mitchell
Rebellious
Pitch Perfect
Pitch Perfect
Pitch Perfect
Sound of Music
Sound of Music
Sound of Music
Maria Von Trapp
Lovely
Settings
Themes
Hellbrum Palace
Louisiana University
Mirabell Palace and Garden
Carolina University Hall
Ignores Beca’s idea
Members follow her step
Never change style
Opposes Nazis
Sticking together in times of hardship
Lies to guards
Von Trapp family escapes to Switzerland.
Aubrey is leader of Barden Bellas
Application of Power

3. Contrast Essay between Sound of Music and Pitch Perfect
A musical film is a film genre in which several songs are sung by characters that are placed in the movie. Rather than simply adding music to the sound track and normal dialogue, the characters within the movie sing to convey their thoughts and feelings. Thus, songs sung by the characters are a way to elaborate on the storyline. Hence, this makes the film more interesting, capturing people’s attention even more. I will be contrasting the differences of two musical movies which are, Sound of Music and Pitch Perfect. The Sound of Music is released on 29 March 1965 directed by Robert Wise. On the other hand, Pitch Perfect is released on 21 December 2012 directed by Jason Moore. There are numerous of similarity between the two movies, however, there are also many differences in both movies because of the storyline, characteristics of the main actress, theme and settings.
The storylines for both musical movies are completely different. The movie Sound of Music is about Maria Von Trapp acted by Julie Andrews who wants to be a nun. One day, Mother Abbess requests Maria to be the governess for seven children through a request from a widowed Austrian naval captain. She became the governess of the seven children and soon falls in love with Captain Georg Von Trapp. They declared their love for each other and later on, both of them got married. The von Trapp family had freedom after hiking over the Alps into Switzerland when Austria is taken over into the Third Reich in the Anschluss. On the contrary, in the movie Pitch Perfect, Anna Kendrick acting as Beca Mitchell desperately wants to be a DJ but is forced by her father to attend university. She meets Jesse Swanson and he is instantaneously attracted to her when Beca takes up an internship at the school radio station. Soon later, she joins the female A cappella group, Barden Bellas. Barden Bellas starts to fall apart after Chloe stands up against Aubrey’s stubbornness. However, they reforms after having a heart-to-heart conversation within themselves. At the national A cappella competition, the Bellas sing a piece arranged by Beca and win the competition.

4. Besides, the main actresses in both musical movies have very different characteristics. Maria is a free-spirit young Austrian woman who wants to be a nun in the movie Sound of Music. She is very cheerful and lovely, bringing happiness to the Von Trapp family. Maria successfully waives the rules that were once set by Captain to keep his children in a strict shipshape order just like how he treats his ship crews. Later, she fell in love with Captain von Trapp and soon marries him. Maria is also kind because she teaches Captain’s seven children to sing and allows them to play. Meanwhile in Pitch Perfect, Beca is a Barden’s freshman who wants to pursue music career. She is reclusive and a rebellious student. Beca Mitchell is also very creative as she creates mash-up mixes of songs. She joins Barden Bellas after being persuaded by her group leader, Chloe Beale. Beca is very hot tempered as she told Jesse to back off because Beca was taken to the local police department and Jesse asked her father to bail her out after an argument occurred with Treblemakers and the Tonehangers.
The theme in both musical movies differs from each other. The main theme in Sound of Music is sticking together in times of hardship. For example, the Von Trapp family sticks together all the time when Austria is taken over into the Third Reich in Anschluss because they strongly oppose Nazism. Their attempt to escape during the night is stopped by the Nazi guards outside their estate. The Von Trapp family lies to them, claiming they are the performers in the Salzburg Festival. The family manages to slip away during their final number, seeking shelter from the patrolling guards at the abbey cemetery. Unluckily, they are discovered by a proud Nazi, Rolf. He threatens to shoot the Captain but Rolf is disarmed by Captain von Trapp. The family runs and had freedom after hiking over the Alps, escaping to Switzerland. Application of power is the main theme in Pitch Perfect. Aubrey is the leader for the all female A cappella group, Barden Bellas. She demands all members of Barden Bellas to look fit and proper while singing only traditional female empowering songs. Aubrey also prefers her members wearing the same outfit while singing the same song. She is

5. stubborn and does not want to accept new ideas given by Beca. Even though the members of Barden Bellas prefer the new idea introduced by Beca Mitchell, they remain silent and continue listening to Aubrey’s instruction. This shows the strong power of a leader being followed by her fellow members.
In addition, filming location of both movies is dissimilar. The filming location of Sound of Music is at Salzburg, Austria. The romantic and famous scene ‘I Am Sixteen Going On Seventeen’ is filmed in The Sound of Music Pavilion, found in Hellbrunn Palace. The other filming location for the scene where Maria and the seven children singing ‘Do-Re-Mi’ are at the Mirabell Gardens and Mirabell Palace. Meanwhile for Pitch Perfect, all scenes are located at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. The location when Aubrey vomits on stage while Barden Bellas is performing at a national a cappella competition is filmed in Louisiana University. The other scene where Barden Bellas participates in the south eastern regional competition is in Carolina University’s hall.
Finally, Sound of Music and Pitch Perfect differs from their storyline, main actress characteristics, themes and also their filming locations. In my opinion, I equally love both movies as Sound Of Music is my favourite childhood movie, whereas Pitch Perfect is my much-loved modern musical movie. Although Sound of Music is released in 1965, whereas Pitch Perfect is released in 2012, they both are great movies which have received abundant of positive review and won numerous awards.

6. 1. Musical Film Genre (n.d.) Retrieved September 15, 2014, from http://home.comcast.net/~torrent1/documents/genre%20notes/Musical%20Film%20Genre.pdf
2. The Sound of Music – Shooting Locations (n.d.) Retrieved September 15, 2014, from http://www.salzburg.info/en/art_culture/sound_of_music/shooting_locations
3. Pitch Perfect- Filming Locations (2012) Retrieved September 15, 2014, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1981677/locations